1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to surface watercraft and more particularly to means for stabilizing and enhancing the operating efficiency of watercraft.
2. Prior Art
Proposals have been made to provide power boats with built-in compartments which self-flood when the boat is at rest and which self-empty as the boat gets underway. The flooded compartments provide stabilization ballast.
Built-in self-flooding compartments have many disadvantages. They are difficult, if not impossible, to add to many existing hull designs. They require that flooding holes be provided through the boat's hull and, as such, destroy the watertight integrity of the hull. They do nothing to enhance operating efficiency of the boat.
Proposals have also been made to temporarily mount hollow, self-flooding, self-emptying, add-on structures on the underside of a power boat for stabilization purposes. Add-on structures proposed for this use have had a rectangular box-like shape with a blunt forward nose, and have extended only about half the length of the hull on which they are mounted.
Add-on structures have the advantages of being usable on existing hulls, of being low in cost, and of obviating the need for flooding holes through the hull. One drawback of proposed add-on structures is the need to drill fastener holes through a boat's hull to mount the structures on the hull.
A further drawback of proposed add-on structures is that they maintain a substantially uniform cross section along their lengths and, as such, do not provide a planing surface of increasing area as they extend rearwardly. The planing surface area provided by proposed blunt nosed self-flooding structures is judged inadequate to efficiently and effectively lift the boat. The shape of proposed self-flooding structures provides what can be characterized as an inefficient "wave fighting" rather than efficient "wave forming" action as the boat moves through water. These "wave fighting" shapes consume energy in throwing spray and generating heavy waves that detract from efficient operation.